Also known as: NaCl, sodium chloride, fine sea salt, kosher salt
Table Salt (Sodium Chloride)
·By Croix
What is table salt (sodium chloride)?
Table salt is sodium chloride, a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions by atom count. By mass, it's about 39% sodium and 61% chloride — so 1 g of salt provides ~390 mg of sodium.
Iodized table salt, kosher salt, fine sea salt, Himalayan pink salt — all are >97% sodium chloride. The trace minerals in unrefined salts contribute basically nothing at sports-drink doses. Pick whichever flavor profile you like; pink-salt premiums are paying for marketing, not physiology.
How does it work in a sports drink?
Sodium does two things during exercise that no other electrolyte can replicate. First, it replaces what's lost in sweat — and sweat losses are large and variable, ranging from ~200 mg/hr in low-salt sweaters to over 1,500 mg/hr in heavy ones. Second, sodium is biochemically required for SGLT1 to transport glucose. Without sodium, glucose absorption slows.
Sodium chloride dissociates into two ions in solution (Na⁺ and Cl⁻), so each 1 g of salt contributes roughly 2 osmoles of osmotic pressure — meaningful at high sodium concentrations, but negligible at typical sports-drink doses (200–600 mg sodium per 500 ml).
How do I use it at home?
For an average sweater on a moderate day: target 300–600 mg sodium per 500 ml serving — that's 0.75 g to 1.5 g of table salt.
For a heavy sweater in heat: 800–1500 mg/hr is realistic. Hitting that with a single bottle is impractical (the drink would be too salty); decouple sodium from carbs by adding salt tabs or a separate electrolyte mix.
If your drink tastes overly salty, either lower the dose or switch to sodium citrate — which delivers the same sodium with a smoother, less briny flavor (at slightly higher cost per gram of sodium).
Dose & usage at a glance
- Sodium content
- ≈390 mg sodium per 1 g salt
- Typical drink dose
- 0.75–1.5 g per 500 ml (300–600 mg sodium)
- Heavy-sweater target
- 800–1500 mg/hr — likely needs decoupled sodium
Where to buy it in bulk
We primarily recommend Nutricost-brand products (made in GMP-compliant, FDA-registered facilities, third-party tested), with NOW Foods or BulkSupplements as fallbacks for ingredients Nutricost doesn't stock. The list below shows every channel that carries the product — Nutricost direct, iHerb, and Amazon — sorted by unit price. Pack sizes vary across retailers, so the lowest $/g usually means the largest pack — pick whichever store and size fits your usage. Links are affiliate — the site earns a small commission at no extra cost to you. For ingredients none of the three brands carries (HBCD, table salt, sucrose) we describe the typical specialty- or grocery-store option and skip the affiliate link.
Disclosure: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Generic (grocery) — Iodized Table Salt (26 oz)737g pack · $0.18 per 100 g$1.29Coming soon
DIY teardowns that use table salt (sodium chloride)
- DIY Maurten 320: the same 1:0.8 formula for a fraction of the price
- DIY SiS Beta Fuel: the most copyable branded fuel on the shelf
- DIY Tailwind Endurance: tune sodium to your own sweat rate
3 teardowns— all walk through how table salt (sodium chloride)fits into the specific commercial product's formulation.